Sunset in the Summer Wildfires

I've been doing a lot of long cross-country flights up and down the West Coast to build more IFR time, all hand-flying the 180 which sure makes you appreciate the idea of an auto-pilot. On a trip from Los Angeles to Seattle this summer we were stopped temporarily by the numerous flight restrictions over the Northern California Wildfires.

After several hours hanging out at the Weed Airport, winds calmed down and we departed south to work our way around the plumes of smoke, which made for a beautiful sunset over the ocean.